The present invention relates to an improved system and method for delivering assigned feed rations to feedbunks associated with animal pens in a feedlot, in which discretion and direct control over the various suboperations of the feed ration assignment and delivery process are distributed among the individual operators in the system which the feedlot manager is capable of indirectly monitoring the performance of the various suboperations through use of a satellite-based global positioning system.
In modern times, commercial feedlots are used extensively to feed thousands of head of cattle or other animals at various stages of growth. The major reason for using an animal feedlot to feed cattle rather than the xe2x80x9copen rangexe2x80x9d, is to expedite the cattle growth process and thus be able to bring cattle to the market in a shorter time period.
Within an animal feedlot, cattle are physically contained in cattle pens, each of which has a feedbunk to receive feed. Ownership of cattle in the feedlot is defined by unique lot numbers associated with the group(s) of cattle in each pen. The number of cattle in an owner""s lot can vary and may occupy a fraction of one or more cattle pens. Within a particular pen, cattle are fed the same feed ration, (i.e. the same type and quantity of feed). In order to accommodate cattle at various stages of growth or which require special feeding because they are sick, undernourished or the like, the feedlot comprises a large number of pens.
Generally, feeding cattle in a feedlot involves checking each pen daily to determine the ration quantity to be fed to the cattle therein at each particular feeding cycle during that day, the condition of the cattle, and the condition of the pen. At a feedmill, feed trucks are then loaded with appropriate quantities of feed for delivery during a particular feeding cycle. Thereafter, the loaded feed trucks are driven to the feedbunks and the assigned ration quantity for each pen is dispensed in its feedbunk. The above process is then repeated for each designated feeding cycle. Owing to the large number of feed ration quantities assigned for delivery each day in the feedlot, feeding animals in a large feedlot has become an enormously complex and time-consuming process.
It is well known in the art to use computers to simplify feedlot management operations. In their 1984 PC World article xe2x80x9cComputers Ride The Rangexe2x80x9d, Eric Brown and John Faulkner explain that large feedlots were the first cattle operations to utilize computers in order to simplify calculations on feed, cattle movements, payroll and accounting, invoicing and least-cost feed blending. From such calculations, market projections, xe2x80x9cbreak-even pricesxe2x80x9d on any given head of cattle, and analyzable historical records can be easily created while permitting feedlot managers to keep track of virtually all overhead costs, from labor and equipment costs, down to the last bushel of corn or gram of micronutrients. Computer systems of the above type are generally described in the articles: xe2x80x9cHomestead Management Systems"" Feedlot Planner and Hay Plannerxe2x80x9d by Wayne Forest, published on pages 40-44 of the September 1985 issue of Agricomp magazine; and xe2x80x9cRations and Feedlot Monitoringxe2x80x9d by Carl Alexander, published on pages 107-112 of Computer Applications in Feeding and Management of Animals, November 1984. The use of computer systems to simulate and thus predict the growth process of cattle in a feedlot is disclosed in the article xe2x80x9cOSU Feedlot (Fortran)xe2x80x9d by Donald R. Gill, on pages 93-106 of Computer Applications in Feeding and Management of Animals, supra.
It is also well known to use portable computing equipment in order to facilitate the assignment and delivery of feed rations in a feedlot. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,821 to Pratt, et al. discloses one prior art system in which portable computers are used in feed ration assignment and delivery operations. As disclosed, this prior art computer system uses portable computers during the feed ration assignment and delivery process. Using such computers, the feedbunk reader assigns particular feedtrucks and drivers to deliver specified loads of feed to specified sequences of pens along a prioritized feed route during each physical feeding cycle. Thereafter, the specified feed loads are loaded onto preassigned feed delivery vehicles, and then the feed delivery vehicles dispense the feed rations into the feedbunks associated with the corresponding animal pens along the prioritized feeding route.
In order to carry out feed delivery operations, known feed delivery vehicles use a motor-driven auger to dispense the preassigned amount of feed ration from the vehicle into and along the length of the corresponding feedbunk. However, when using conventional feed dispensing technology, non-uniform delivery of feed rations along the length of the feedbunk often occurs. As each section of the feedbunk naturally becomes the territory of a particular animal over time, certain animals, who return to the same section of the feedbunk during each feeding cycle, are not provided with an equal amount of feed as animals along the same feedbunk. This condition along the feedbunk prevents successful modelling of animal consumption patterns, and the prediction of weight gain in response to assigned feed rations, and thus significantly effects the overall feedlot management process sought to be carried out in the feedlot. Prior art feedlot management systems and methods not only fail to address this problem, but create conditions which perpetuate it.
Prior art feedlot management methods also fail to provide feedlot operators (e.g. bunkers, feed deliverymen, veterinarians and feedlot managers) with an easy way of ascertaining the state of affairs in the feedlot outside the scope and range of their human senses. Consequently, the use of prior art systems and methods has made it very difficult for operators to collaborate in ways which minimize the time and energy required to carry out feedlot operations, while reducing feedlot operating costs and the number of employees required to support its operations.
Thus, there is a great need in the art for an improved system and method for carrying out and managing animal feedlot operations, including delivering assigning feed rations to animals in a feedlot, while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior art systems and methods.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for carrying out and managing animal feedlot operations, while overcoming the problems associated with prior art systems and methodologies.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such apparatus in the form of an animal feedlot operations and management system, wherein each feedlot vehicle employed therein has an on-board computer system which uses coordinate acquisition techniques supported by global (satellite-based) positioning system (GPS) in order to carry out and manage animal feedlot operations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such apparatus in the form of an animal feedlot operations and management system, wherein each feedlot vehicle employed therein has an on-board computer system which uses real-time virtual reality (VR) modelling (e.g. 3-D geometrical) and coordinate acquisition techniques, supported on an Internet-based digital communications platform, in order to carry out and manage animal feedlot operations.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a system, wherein each feed delivery vehicle employed therein has an on-board computer system which uses real-time VR modelling and coordinate acquisition techniques to uniformly deliver feed rations to the feedbunks of animals in the feedlot.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, wherein a VR subsystem aboard each feedlot vehicle has access to a 3-D virtual reality modelling language (VRML) database containing a VR model of the feedlot which accurately reflects the position and orientation of the feedlot vehicles as it is navigated through the feedlot in either its manned or unmanned mode of navigation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, wherein the VRML database is continually updated by a VRML database processor (i.e. VRML engine) using information which has been obtained from a satellite-based global positioning subsystem and a plurality of local information acquisition subsystems (LIAS) integrated therewith and transmitted to the database processor by way of an Internet-based digital communications network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, in which information produced from the GPS is used to continually update the VR-based feedlot model in order to: (i) display alleyways, pens and other fixed identifiers in the feedlot on a display screen aboard each feedlot vehicle; (ii) determine that each particular feed delivery vehicle is stopped at the correct feedbunk for delivery of assigned feed rations; (iii) determine the length of the feedbunk at which the vehicle is stopped; and (iv) determine the speed of the feed delivery vehicle from the beginning of the feedbunk to the end thereof during uniform feed dispensing operations.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a computer-assisted system, in which each feedlot vehicle includes at least two high-resolution GPS signal receivers and a GPS processor for producing coordinate data which specifies the position and orientation of the feedlot vehicle within the feedlot.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, in which each feed delivery vehicle includes sensors for producing coordinate data specifying the orientation of the feed dispensing chute relative to the body of the feed delivery vehicle during uniform feed dispensing operations.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, wherein each such feedlot vehicle can be remotely navigated over a preprogrammed or improvised navigational course in the feedlot by way of the vehicle operator interacting with a 3-D VR-world model of the feedlot stereoscopically viewed at remotely situated VR workstation in communication with the vehicle through a wireless digital communication network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a feedlot computer network in which separate computer systems adapted for the feedbunk reader, the feedmill operator, the feedlot manager, the feedlot veterinarian, the feedlot nutritionist and the feed delivery vehicle operators are integrated within a wireless digital telecommunications network which, as part of the Internet, permits them to asynchronously transfer information files therewithin in order to carry out the feedlot modelling and management method of the present invention.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a feedlot computer network, wherein the position and body-temperature of RF-tagged animals in the feedlot are reflected by the position and color of corresponding VR-based animal (sub)models in VR-based feedlot models maintained in the network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a improved method of carrying out and managing operations in an animal feedlot.
The animal feedlot management system of the present invention comprises a plurality of feedlot vehicles, a database for maintaining information representative of a model of the feedlot and objects contained therein, and a plurality of computer systems installed on-board the plurality of feedlot vehicles, each the computer system including a subsystem for viewing an aspect of the model maintained in the database, vehicle information acquisition means for acquiring vehicle information regarding (i) the position of the feedlot vehicle relative to a first prespecified coordinate reference frame, and/or (ii) the state of operation of the feedlot vehicle, and information transmission means for transmitting the vehicle information to the database to specify in the position and/or the state of operation of the feedlot vehicle represented within the model of the feedlot. The vehicle information acquisition means comprises a satellite-based global positioning system, and the database is periodically updated using the vehicle information obtained from the satellite-based global positioning system.
The animal feedlot management system further comprises animal information acquisition means for acquiring animal information regarding the position of animals in the feedlot relative to second prespecified coordinate reference frame, and/or the body-temperature of the animals so that the feedlot model reflects the position and/or body-temperature of the animals. The subsystem aboard each the feedlot vehicle comprises a stereoscopic display subsystem which permits the driver to stereoscopically view any aspect of the model, including the driver""s vehicle as it is being navigated through the feedlot during feedlot operations.
Each feedlot vehicle can be remotely controlled through the feedlot by an operator using a remotely situated workstation, and each feedlot vehicle can be equipped with a corresponding stereoscopic vision subsystem having a field of view along the navigational course of the feedlot vehicle. The database can be maintained aboard an Internet server operably associated with an Internet-based digital communications network with which each the subsystem is in communication. In this case, a replica of the database is maintained aboard each feedlot vehicle.
The viewing subsystem can be used to ascertain both vehicle and animal information reflected in the model of the feedlot. The animal feedlot management system can further comprises at least one workstation for viewing the model of the feedlot during feedlot operations. This workstation can be used for viewing the model of a feedlot vehicle in the feedlot and remotely navigating the feedlot vehicle along a course in the feedlot.
In another aspect, the animal feedlot management system comprises a plurality of feedlot vehicles, each employing an on-board computer system which includes a feedlot modelling subsystem for maintaining a geometrical database containing a geometrical model of the feedlot and objects contained therein, a coordinate acquisition subsystem for acquiring coordinate information specifying the position of the feedlot vehicle relative to a coordinate reference system symbolically embedded within the feedlot, and geometrical database processor for processing information in the geometrical database using the coordinate information in order to update the geometrical model.
The associated method of animal feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot comprises the steps of (a) providing a feedlot vehicle with an on-board computer system which uses real-time VR modelling and coordinate acquisition techniques in order to maintain a 3-D geometrical model of the feedlot and objects therein including the feedlot vehicle, and (b) navigating the feedlot vehicle while viewing an aspect of the feedlot model from within the feedlot vehicle.
In a further aspect, the animal feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot pursuant to the present invention can comprise a virtual reality (VR) modelling subsystem for maintaining information representative of a VR model of the animal feedlot wherein the VR model accurately reflects the position of the feedlot vehicles as they are navigated through the feedlot, and the position and body-temperature of each the animal in the feedlot.
The animal feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot pursuant to the present invention can also comprise a feedlot vehicle; a virtual reality (VR) database for maintaining information representative of a VR model of the feedlot and objects contained therein including the feedlot vehicle and animals contained within the feedlot, and a computer system installed on-board the feedlot vehicle, and including a VR subsystem for viewing an aspect of the VR model maintained in the VR database.
The computer system can further comprise vehicle information acquisition means for acquiring vehicle information regarding the position of the feedlot vehicle relative to a prespecified coordinate reference frame and/or the state of operation of the feedlot vehicle, and information transmission means for transmitting the vehicle information to the VR database so as to specify the position and/or the state of the feedlot vehicle represented within the VR model of the feedlot. As the feedlot vehicle is navigated alongside a feedbunk in the feedlot, the VR subsystem permits the driver of the feedlot vehicle to view from a display panel within the feedlot vehicle, a selected portion of the VR model showing the feedlot vehicle and the feedbunk along which the feedlot vehicle is navigated during a feedlot operation.